Westvale Primary School

WESTVALE PRIMARY SCHOOL

POLICY FOR SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 2016-17

The object of this policy is to define clearly the systems and procedures for the support of pupils with Special Educational Needs in WestvalePrimary school. It takes into account the revised Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years published June 2014 as well as LA guidelines.The new Code of practice provides statutory guidance on duties, policies and procedures relating to Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 and associated regulations and applies to England.

It should be read in conjunction with the School’s Inclusion, Accessibility and Equal Opportunities policies. Please also refer to the school’s website for the Westvale SEN School Offer Information report 2016-17.

Vision Statement and Aims

Our school is committed to working together to contribute to the healthy growth and development of all our children.

Through a stimulating, broad and child-centred curriculum, we aim for all children to reach their full potential, to be confident, and to develop a positive attitude towards their learning.

We are committed to offering an Inclusive curriculum to ensure the best possible progress for all our pupils whatever their needs and abilities. Westvale Primary seeks to raise the achievement, remove barriers to learning and increase physical and curricular access to all. All SEN children are valued, respected and equal members of our school.

Definition of Special Educational Needs

In the SEND Code of Practice 2014, children have special educational needs if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them.

Children have a learning difficulty or disability if they:

a)have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age or

b)have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions

For children aged two or more, special educational needs is educational or training provision that is additional to or different from that made generally for other children or young people of the same age by mainstream schools, maintained nursery schools, mainstream post-16 institutions or by relevant early years providers. For a child under two years of age, special educational provision means educational provision of any kind. (para xv – Code of Practice 2014)

Children must not be regarded as having a learning difficulty solely because the language of their home is different from the language in which they will be taught.

Equal Opportunity

WestvaleSchool does not discriminate against children on the grounds of race, gender, religion or ability. We seek to enable all children to have reasonable access to the curriculum in line with the legal obligations outlined in The Equality Act 2010.

Objectives:

To ensure that all pupils with SEN are offered full access to a broad, balanced,differentiated and relevant curriculum including the Foundation Stage and the National Curriculum as appropriate
To ensure that the needs of pupils with SEN are identified early, assessed, provided for and regularly reviewed
To enable pupils with SEN to take an active part in school life and maximise their achievements
To ensure that the culture, practice, management and deployment of resources are designed to meet the needs of all pupils with SEN
To work in partnership with parents to enable them to make an active contribution to the education of their child
To work with and in support of outside agencies when the pupils’ needs cannot be met by the school alone.
To take the views and wishes of the child into account.

Roles and Responsibilities

The Governing Body

The Governors will ensure that:

They are fully involved in developing and reviewing SEN Policy and that all their actions have regard for the Code of Practice 2014.
Provision is of a high standard for pupils with SEN.
SEN pupils are fully involved in daily school life.
The Governing Body has a nominated SEN Governor ( currently Ms. L. Sheppey)

The Headteacher

The Headteacher has responsibility for:

the day to day management of all aspects of the school’s work, including provision for children with SEN.
keeping the Governing Body fully informed
working closely with the SENCO.

The SENCO

The SENCO, Mrs. T. Kelly , currently supported by Mrs. A.Afflick, Headteacher at Westvale is a member of the Senior Leadership Team within our school. She can be contacted at the School Office on 0151-477-8470.

The SENCO in collaboration with the Headteacher and Governing Body, plays a key role in determining the strategic development of the SEN policy and provision in school, in order to raise the achievement of children with SEN.

Key responsibilities are:

Overseeing the day to day operation of the school’s SEN policy
Co-ordinating provision for children with Special Educational Needs
Advising on the graduated approach to providing SEN support
Advising on the deployment of the school’s delegated budget and other resources to meet pupils’ needs effectively
Liaising with parents of pupils with SEN
Liaising with early years providers, other schools, educational psychologists, health and social care professionals, and independent or voluntary bodies
Being a key point of contact with external agencies, especially the local authority and its support services
Liaising with potential next providers of education to ensure a pupil and their parents are informed about options and a smooth transition is planned
Liaising with a relevant Designated teacher where a looked after pupil has SEN
Liaising with external agencies including the school’s SEN Officer, Mrs. J. Gore, and other support services such as Mrs. D.Lackey (Learning Support Teacher) Speech & Language Service and Educational Psychology Service, other health and social services and voluntary bodies.
Drafting the school’s SEN information report for the school website, to inform parents, with consultation Head Teacher/Governors
Ensuring that the school keeps the records of all pupils with SEN up to date eg. School SEN audit/Register termly/ Play Plans/PPPs

The Teaching staff

All teachers are teachers of children with special educational needs and actively seek to adapt the curriculum to meet their needs.

Key responsibilities are:

Implementation of the School SEN policy
Early identification of a child’s SEN concerns and informing the SENCO of them
Writing Play Plans/PPPs,with appropriate targets, after consultation with the SENCO/ Learning Support Teacher as appropriate
Reviewing targets on PPP’s termly and ensuring progress is discussed with pupils/parents/carers
Identifying resource needs for the support of children in the class
Meet regularly with the Learning Support Teacher, Mrs. Lackey, if appropriate, linked to progress/targets of pupils at SEN Support level on the SEN Register

Teaching Assistants

Key responsibilities are:

Supporting pupils with SEN in class as directed by the teacher and supporting pupils with SEN, where appropriate outside of class
Recording their work with SEN pupils and informing the class teacher and SENCO of any issues arising
Being aware of the SEN policy

1:1 SEN Teaching Assistants

SEN 1:1 TAs in school support Statemented pupils in class towards the objectives on their Statement. (Individual statements will be transferred into Education Health & Care Plans by July 2017 by the Local Authority SEN Team.) They liaise with the class teacher and SENCO, any external agency working with the child and maintain daily records on the progress of the children they support. They also attend meetings and review meetings eg. Annual Reviews, as requested.

The Role of Parents of Pupils with SEN

In accordance with the SEND code of practice 0-25 June 2014, our school believes that all parents of children with SEN should be treated as equal partners. Our ‘Open Door’ policy encourages parents to contact the child’s class teacher and/or SENCO as needed by telephone or appointment.

Parents will be supported and enabled to:

Recognise and fulfil their responsibilities as parents and play an active and valued role in their child’s education
Have knowledge of their child’s entitlement within the SEN framework
Have the opportunity to share their views on how their child may be supported
Have access to information, advice and support during assessment and any related decision making processes about Special Educational provision.

Parents are informed about the targets set on their child’s Play Plan/PPPs by the class teacher and how they can support their child at home to achieve targets set at home. Parent views are sought on progress made towards targets set at Review Meetings termly. They also have an opportunity to meet and discuss any concerns with our SENCO or Learning Support Teacher, Mrs.Lackey, at Parent Afternoons termly or other arranged meetings after school if appropriate.

We value the contribution that parents make and the critical role they play in their child’s education. The school will make available to all parents/carers of pupils with special educational needs details of the Parent Partnership services through the LA if requested.

Allocation of Resources

The Local Authority (LA) provides all schools with a budget towards meeting the needs of pupils with SEN. The percent actual budget share for 2016 / 17 for Westvale Primary School is 24.27%. The school plans for pupils with SEN from their main budget to enable staff/specialist resources to be provided.

Additional funding (top ups) is also allocated to meet the needs of SEN pupils with more High Level Needs such as Statemented/EHCP pupils.

School funds the first 12 hours support of any statemented/EHCP pupil from the school budget. Any additional funding required must be applied for through the statutory assessment process at the Local Authority SEN Panel.

Admission Arrangements

The admission arrangements to Westvale Primary are included in our ‘Admissions Policy’. This is not affected by whether a child has SEN or any disability (See the school’s Access/Inclusion Policy.)

Identification, assessment and provision for all pupils with SEN

At Westvale, we believe it is vital that special educational needs are identified as early as possible and support put into place as soon as possible. During the general assessment of all pupils, the class teacher may suspect a child has special educational needs, which require differentiation on an individual basis. Teachers liaise and share their concerns with the school SENCO and would monitor the child. If a child’s progress remains limited after additional intervention in class, further assessment may be required through consultation with the school SENCO. The class teacher will meet with parents to discuss support requirements and learning needs. If the support required is in addition to, or different from the differentiated curriculum, with access to support from an additional external agency, the child will be placed on the SEN Register at SEN Support level.

Identification and Assessment arrangements

The school policy for SEN follows the guidance of the SEND Code of Practice 2014.

A graduated approach:

Quality First Teaching

Any pupils who are falling significantly outside of the range expected achievement in line with predicted performance will be monitored.
Once a pupil has been identified as possibly having SEN they will be closely monitored by staff in order to assess their level/stage of learning and possible difficulties.
The child’s class teacher will take necessary steps to provide differentiated learning opportunities that will aid the pupil’s academic progress and enable the teacher to better understand the provision and teaching style that may be needed
The SENCO will be consulted, if needed, for support and advice and may wish to observe the pupil in class.
If a pupil has recently been removed from the SEN Register they may also fall into this category as continued monitoring will be necessary.
Parents will be fully informed and are encouraged to share information/knowledge with the school.
Parent evenings are used to monitor and assess the progress being made by all pupils.

SEN Support

At this stage, the class teacher will plan and deliver an Personal Provision Plan (PPP). In Foundation Stage, the class teacher will plan and deliver a Play Plan. Parents will be informed and the child placed on the SEN Register in school.

The support provided consists of a four – part process:

Assess
Plan
Do
Review

This is an on-going cycle to ensure provision in place is refined and revised according to the need of the child.

The trigger for intervention through SEN Support could be concern about a child who despite receiving differentiated learning opportunities:

Makes little or no progress even when teaching approaches are targeted

Shows signs of difficulty in developing literacy or numeracy skills, which result in poor attainment in some curriculum areas.

Presents persistent emotional or behavioural difficulties which are not changed by the behaviour management techniques usually employed in school

Has sensory or physical problems and continues to make little or no progress despite the provision of specialist equipment

Has communication and or interaction difficulties and continues to make little or noprogress despite provision having been made to support these.The teacher’s concern, underpinned by school evidence on progress and attainment, will bethe trigger to register a child at SEN Support.

Working in collaboration with the SENCO and parents, class teachers should:

Collect all relevant information on the child

Be responsible for initial assessment and evaluation of child’s needs and progress.

Register children at SEN Support level when necessary interventions, from external providers or Teacher/TA support, are additional to or different from those provided as part of the school’s differentiated curriculum.

Use targets and strategies to enable the child to make progress and record these on a PPP (or Play Plan in Foundation Stage).

Evidence to support identification includes:

Foundation stage:

Foundation stage profiles, ongoing observations and assessments.

Years 1 – 6:

Child’s progress against objectives set out by Literacy/Maths National Curriculum statutory guidelines September 2014, SATs results, Y1 Phonics Screening Check, Assertive Mentoring Assessments, Salford Reading Tests, Optional NFER/Rising Stars testing in years 1,3 – 5, termly assessments and target setting, and class and whole school assessment data.

The class teacher will identify and inform the SENCO who will register the child and agree that support is needed. The teacher will draw up aPlay Plan/PPP and inform the parents. If there are concerns about behaviour needs, a PPP may be implemented with behaviour targets included. This PPP would be at SEN Support level. The PPP and support are then implemented. The PPP will include information about:

3- 4 individual short term targets set for the child. These should include SMART targets (Simple, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timed).

Teaching strategies to be used.

Provision to be put in place.

When the plan is to be reviewed.

Outcomes (when PPP is reviewed)

Progress by the child will be reviewed termly by the class teacher, relevant support staff and parent/pupil. The class teacher has a responsibility to decide whether:

a)adequate progress has been made and there is no longer cause for concern so the child can be removed from the SEN Register and parents informed.

b)A child remains at SEN Support level with new targets set (if progress satisfactory)in consultation with the SENCO.

The child’s views regarding his/her success and areas of concern should be considered as well as parent views on the school review days. The SENCO will take an advisory role to staff and parents, in ensuring that the child’s needs are met. The child’s PPP will be updated accordingly and the School SENCO is available to discuss targets and provide advice regarding support and resources.(The PPP may be replaced with a new form as part of the SEND reforms in the future.)

Early Years SEN Support

If progress is not satisfactory and at least 2 Play Plans have been implemented and reviewed, further advice will be sought. Initially the concerns about the child will be raised with the SENCO / and Learning Support Teacher, as appropriate. Further assessments will be carried out to ascertain need and future provision. The child might become part of an additional intervention/booster/target group. If progress is still a concern after careful monitoring, the child will move to SEN Support level and could also be working with an external agency eg. Chance to Talk Speech and Language Therapist.